I have spent nearly 40 years contemplating the truths laid out with such simple eloquence in these five verses of Scripture, yet I have only seen a glimmer of the light they reveal. I am not exaggerating for effect when I say that. I honestly believe that the sublime nature of God's Word (Jesus Christ) is unfathomable treasure, one that saints will enjoy throughout their eternal rest and work as a kingdom of priest.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." ~ John 1.1-5

What a story they tell! What a call to worship!

The Word is Jesus Christ, "God's thought made audible" (White). Jesus is the very mind of God. Knowing the Word means knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, for all Scripture simply testifies of him (John 5.39). His words are spirit and life. Bread. Water. Light. Life. He meets human need in all it's imagined complexity with his unimaginable simplicity.

All that can be said of Jesus in his nature as the Son of man and the Son of God can be said of the Word inspired as Scripture by the hand of man under the breath of God.

Think of it. Jesus, the Word of God, is the light and life of humanity. In him is life, eternal and underived, given us freely from the beginning of time. Light and life. Do we know what they mean? When we draw breath, do we realize it is from him? When light floods our eyes, do we see Jesus?

Try reading Revelation 4 and 5 to see if we can catch at least a ray of his glory.

Jesus is God's thought made audible. In Christ incarnate we may touch the living God! We may know him who dwells in unapproachable light and yet not be destroyed. Do we under stand this grace and steadfast love? Further still, will we acknowledge that this very Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ, we humiliated, bound, and nailed to Roman cross? We spilled the blood of the only Son of God, yet he speaks to us in the tenderest words of forgiving grace.

How can we continue to indulge pride and covetousness, the bitter roots of sin?

Look again at the old apostle John, nearing the end of his life his theme is the same, the revelation of light and life manifested among in the Word of God made flesh.

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
~ 1 John 1.1-10

But is John finished now?

No! He is chosen by Christ to receive the greatest revelation of glory known to man. He is the recipient of the testimony of Jesus, the message of our High Priest to his church on earth.

Yet, the man most familiar with his Lord falls down as dead at his feet when the pure, holy, radiant love of Christ exposes the weak, sinful nature of his humanity. Like Isaiah before him, not until mercy reaches out to set him on his feet can I speak again of unseen things, of eternal mysteries no human language can convey.

Standing as we are on the edge of eternity, waiting for the Lord's return, how humbled should we be even in the simple act of "opening" the word of God?

"Thus says the Lord:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
2 All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word."
Isaiah 66.1-2